Indian doctors are hoping to take advantage of the more favourable way the West is looking at medical cannabis

The Hindu (India)Sunday, November 25, 2018

With several States in the United States, and Canada this year, permitting the use of the marijuana for medical as well as recreational use, there is a loosening of the taboo associated with the plant. Indian doctors and researchers are hoping to take advantage of this. India is likely to kick off its own studies on medical marijuana. Led by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM) and the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai, researchers will test whether strains of marijuana grown at the CSIR-IIIM campus in Jammu could be effective in the treatment of breast cancer and sickle-cell anaemia as well as be “bio-equivalent” (similar in make-up and effect) to marijuana-derived drugs already approved by the U.S. FDA.

Europe should re-embrace an approach it pioneered

The Economist (UK)Saturday, November 24, 2018

Portugal’s policies are based on “harm reduction” approaches pioneered in countries such as Switzerland in the 1980s. The idea is to emphasise treatment and prevention more than punishment, says Brendan Hughes of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). Most European countries now have some form of harm-reduction policy, though the east is more conservative. Some countries take things further. Many have safe injection rooms, supervised by medical professionals who check the drugs for safety. In Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, addicts who repeatedly fail methadone programmes may even receive free, government-prescribed heroin. “Heroin-assisted treatment” has been shown to reduce crime and deaths.

Bill seeks to legalise the use of the herb for medicinal, religious and sacramental purposes

WIC News (Caribbean)Saturday, November 24, 2018

A bill that will allow residents to possess and use small quantities of marijuana will go before parliament on 12 December for the first time. According to the country’s latest cabinet notes, the Marijuana Bill will be read a first time and distributed when parliament convenes in 19 days. The bill focuses on decriminalising up to 5g of marijuana, eliminating fines associated with the currently illegal drug. The government is hoping that by passing the Marijuana Bill, it will lessen what it termed the “expensive” costs associated with pursuing convictions and prosecuting people who were caught with small amounts of the drug. (See also: Antigua and Barbuda set to pass inclusive cannabis regulation law)

GPO ready to develop medication, rejects seized cannabis

The Nation (Thailand)Saturday, November 24, 2018

Thailand is moving closer to getting medical marijuana legalised, as the bill on the issue has already made headway in the legislative process. The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) approved the bill with 145 votes allowing marijuana to be used for medical and research purposes. Nobody attending the NLA session objected to the bill, and only one legislator abstained. The NLA’s Somchai Swangkarn said a vetting committee on the bill has also been established. “We believe the NLA will take 60 days to deliberate this draft,” he said. Over the period, he also expects relevant authorities to sort out cannabis-related patent issues after several civic organisations expressed concerns that all patent applications submitted to the Intellectual Property Department came from foreigners.

The experiment states that all coffeeshops in a municipality must participate

NL Times (Netherlands)Friday, November 23, 2018

Many Dutch municipalities are dissatisfied with the current preliminary design of the government's experiment with regulated cannabis cultivation. Where municipalities queued to participate in the experiment when it was announced, the government will now have difficulty in finding 10 municipalities to participate, according to the association of Dutch municipalities VNG. The VNG's main objection is that the experiment will not automatically be extended if it proves successful. That means that coffeeshop owners may have to return to illegal growers after the experiment. "That is immoral", mayor Paul Depla of Breda said. The final point of criticism for the VNG is the so-called 'resident criterion' - coffeeshops can only sell to Dutch residents.

All over Europe, every day, many thousands of people will inject heroin in drug consumption rooms. But none of these will be in the UK, where drug addicts are mainly confined to back streets, crack houses and hostel bedrooms. While European overdose rates are falling, the UK now has the worst drug death rate across the continent: one in three of the approximate 8,000 people who die as a result of drugs in Europe will do so in Britain. There has never been a recorded death in any of the 78 drug consumption rooms in Europe. Why? Because nurses quickly administer antidotes and immediately resuscitate the person before calling an ambulance. Elsewhere, the death rate from opiate overdoses is about 6%.

States may have failed to anticipate this problem because of misleading predictions about the effects of legalization

The Denver Post (US)Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Wholesale marijuana prices in Colorado have fallen by a third in just the past 12 months, continuing a price crash that began soon after the drug was legalized. Although this implies that some marijuana entrepreneurs are going to go bankrupt, the bigger financial hit will be felt by states that tax marijuana based on its price. Marijuana prices are collapsing because a legal business is dramatically cheaper to operate than an illegal one. Ironically, in a bid for more tax revenue per marijuana sale, Colorado increased its marijuana tax rate from 10 percent to 15 percent last year, only to see the anticipated added tax revenue wiped out by falling prices in a year’s time.

Big Marijuana is not inevitable

The Verge (US)Wednesday, November 21, 2018

There are plenty of predictions about how cannabis farming is poised to go corporate, but Big Marijuana is not inevitable, says Ryan Stoa, a professor of law at Concordia University. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen. But Stoa, the author of Craft Weed: Family Farming and the Future of the Marijuana Industry, argues that in a world where cannabis is legal, there is a route for cannabis agriculture to stay sustainable and local. The Verge spoke to Stoa about what’s fending off a corporate takeover, potential legal regulations that could help the industry remain small, and the environmental impact of farming. (See also: Can artisanal weed compete with ‘Big Marijuana’?)

The Caribbean Community (Caricom) Marijuana Commission has called on the Government to decriminalise marijuana for all uses

Jamaica Observer (Jamaica)Tuesday, November 20, 2018

The St Vincent and the Grenadines Parliament is expected to approve laws establishing a medical marijuana industry in the country. The bills are expected to become law amidst concerns among three groups involved in the review of the draft legislation — growers, the Christian Council, and the parliamentary opposition — that foreign interest could benefit the most from a medicinal marijuana industry here. “As we, as growers, get into this part of the industry, I must tell you that the playing field is not a level one, because foreigners, the investors, have the money [and] the growers, they don't have lands,” said Junior “Spirit” Cottle, a long-standing advocate of reform of the island's marijuana laws. (See also: Debate of SVG’s marijuana bills postponed)

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UN Drug Control

In 2011 the 1961 UN Single Convention on drugs will be in place for 50 years. In 2012 the international drug control system will exist 100 years since the International Opium Convention was signed in 1912 in The Hague. Does it still serve its purpose or is a reform of the UN Drug Conventions needed? This site provides critical background.